Girls Versus Suits
Girls Versus Suits is the twelfth episode of the fifth season of ''How I Met Your Mother''. The episode was written by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas and directed by Pamela Fryman. It first aired on January 11, 2009. Plot Summary Ted dates a student from his University, who is revealed by Future Ted to be the roommate of The Mother. Barney faces a hard decision; To sleep with MacLaren's new, hot bartender Karina, he must give up his suits. Synopsis Future Ted again expounds on the unknowable nature of destiny, and tells the kids about the time he almost met their mother. After leaving class, he intercepts a series of frat boys inviting a woman up to the roof to drink. Confiscating the alcohol, he sits down to drink the beer with Cindy (Rachel Bilson), a PhD student roughly his own age to whom he can relate. He asks her out on a date and when he comes to pick her up at her apartment, it turns out Cindy has serious issues with her roommate (who Future Ted reveals to be the Mother); her dates keep falling in love with her roommate, and her roommate's strange habits annoy Cindy. Ted promises Cindy to never fall in love with her roommate - something to which future Ted says "oops" to. During the date, Cindy explains more about the strange habits she dislikes about her roommate that Ted secretly thinks are awesome. Cindy tells how the Mother paints pictures of robots playing sports and has breakfast foods singing show tunes. Future Ted reveals the painting of robots playing volleyball is still hanging in the house and that an English muffin singing "Memories" is the most hauntingly beautiful thing he has heard to this day. Even though she complains about her roommate throughout the evening, Ted wants to continue dating Cindy. After the date, Cindy tells Ted she can't see him again, blaming the University policy preventing students and lecturers from fraternizing, as she fears it could cost her her scholarship. At first Ted tries to rationalize her decision as being for the best, especially as the others point out that Cindy's future and Ted's job are in jeopardy. Ted is inspired to try again, and shows up at Cindy's apartment and tries to persuade her to go out with him again, unwilling to miss out on the chance of her being the right woman. She takes Ted to talk in her room as her roommate is just about to leave the shower. As he tries to convince Cindy that their paths are meant to cross, he picks out items from her room which show how much they have in common. Cindy reveals that all three objects are really connected to her roommate. Frustrated that Ted is already more compatible with her roommate, Cindy tells him to leave. Ted does not meet her roommate, although on his way out he does catch a glimpse of her leg, as she disappears into her bedroom. Ted forgets to take the yellow umbrella he brought with him, revealing how the Mother gets it back. MacLaren's has hired a hot female bartender, Karina (Stacy Keibler), and Barney seeks to add her occupation to his list of conquests. But she doesn't like men in suits, having dated insensitive Wall Street losers. Barney is forced to choose between the girl and the suits. For a while he attempts to dress casually, convincing the hot bartender she misjudged him. He even sneaks away to the bathroom to wear his suit, where he accidentally rips the back. The suit is damaged beyond repair, but his tailor (Tim Gunn) transplants the buttons to save another suit and Barney cremates the remains. Meanwhile, Lily, Marshall, and Robin argue about the bartender's hotness. Robin is jealous, and even gets behind the bar to show how the location amplifies natural beauty. Carl soon kicks her out from behind the bar. Marshall insists that the bartender is not that hot, saying that Lily is the most beautiful woman he has ever met. Lily tries to get Marshall to say that she is not as beautiful as the bartender, and eventually even implies that the bartender is hotter than Marshall, actually upsetting him a little. With the urn of suit ashes and his real tears for his lost suit, Barney convinces the hot bartender to go home with him. In his apartment the hot bartender accidentally opens his closet full of suits and realizes he deceived her. She forces him to choose between her and his suits. She is angry as they are shown leaving building and Barney breaks into song, professing his love of suits. He explains how he couldn't possibly choose one women over suits that give him so much. He fires a beam, magically changing everyone so that they too are wearing suits and they all join in the big song and dance number. As the song comes to an end he admits his doubts saying she is "pretty hot" and back to the moment where she gave him the ultimatum. He tells her she is more important than the suits and they will go first thing in the morning. As they fall into bed, he whispers "you guys are fine" to his suits. Continuity *In The Leap, Ted first reveals the woman who would become "the Mother" of the show's title was in the class he walked into on his first day. In the subsequent episode, Definitions, Ted reveals it was really an economics class he mistakenly walked into. Cindy was also in that same economics class. *Ted leaves the Yellow umbrella behind in Cindy's apartment. Future Ted explains that this is how the mother got her umbrella back. Ted is first shown with the yellow umbrella in Wait For It, where it is mentioned that the umbrella will play a part in him meeting the mother. Ted is shown acquiring the umbrella in No Tomorrow and carries it around in Right Place Right Time. *Ted's love of bass-playing women, referenced in Matchmaker, Milk and Little Boys, is mentioned again when he finds his future wife's bass guitar. *Robin says that Karina is not that hot and keeps saying it throughout the episode, but when Ted asks Robin if she thinks she's the hottest girl in the bar and upset about not getting attention, she giggles and says no. This is a reference to Robin being unable to lie without laughing. first shown in The Bracket. *Lily once again reveals her bisexual tendencies, as she did in Best Prom Ever, Robin 101 and The Playbook. Gallery Memorable Quotes Barney: My friends, I have been with many women in my day: lawyers, teachers, poets, doctors, professional equestrians, amature equestrians... a butcher, a baker, a candlestick maker—yes, we're to the rhyming section now—a math professor, a tax assessor, a weight guesser...a puppeteer, a blackjack dealer, a stay-at-home-mom— that's a job too, guys—a circuit court jus— Notes and Trivia Goofs and Errors *Barney claims not to have slept with a hot bartender before, however in The Platinum Rule he slept with Wendy the Waitress, who has been seen bartending on occasion. Technically, this would not be a mistake if Barney does not consider Wendy to be "hot", but considering how they were attracted to one another and slept together in The Platinum Rule, this is unlikely. Neil Patrick Harris even believed that line was "a bit of a lie" by the writers.http://au.tv.ign.com/articles/104/1046750p1.html Allusions and Outside References *The CD belonging to Cindy's roommate that Ted picks up when he is in Cindy's room is Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone? by The Unicorns. The book he picks up next is World's End by T. Coraghessan Boyle. *Ted works for Columbia University. Cindy tells him that University policy prevents them from dating. According to Columbia University: "Consensual, romantic relationships between faculty and other employees and students and between individuals who work together are generally not considered sexual harassment and are not prohibited by University policy."http://www.columbia.edu/cu/gsas/sub/policies/grievance/harassment/ *When Barney abandons wearing suits, he wears a t-shirt that has the image of the cover of the 1924 book Die neue Wohnung by the famous architect Bruno Taut. *The scene when Barney is in the bathroom stall putting on his suit references the scene in Pulp Fiction when Vincent Vega (John Travolta) is injecting himself with heroin, including the fact that both scenes use the song "Bullwinkle Part II" by The Centurions. *Ted describes the Mother's rendition of "Memories" as hauntingly beautiful. The song is "Memory" from the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Cats. Music *"Bullwinkle Part II" by The Centurions *"Cherry Pie" by Warrant *"Nothing Suits Me Like a Suit" performed by Neil Patrick Harris Other Notes *Overall, this is the one hundredth episode. *"Nothing Suits Me Like a Suit" was backed by sixty five dancers and accompanied by a fifty-piece orchestra. *International Airdates: Australia: April 22, 2010 on Channel 7; United Kingdom: August 12, 2010 on E4. *Karina's name is never mentioned on screen, but is revealed in the cast list. Reception Donna Bowman of The A.V. Club rated the episode with a grade A, describing the 100th episode as one of the best the show has ever produced. She describes the episodes as appealing to fans in a way that doesn't exclude other viewers, noting the quality of the writing and editing, the voiceover being used to great effect, and advancing the storyline for all the characters.http://www.avclub.com/articles/girls-vs-suits,36971/ Brian Zoromski of IGN gave the episode 9.8 out of 10.http://au.tv.ign.com/articles/105/1059403p1.html Cindy McLennan of Television Without Pity rated the episode with a grade A.http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/show/how_i_met_your_mother/girls_vs_suits_1.php Nickolas Clague of the New York Times gave the episode 9.2 out of 10.http://nytimes.com/ The episode hit a season high with 9.82 million viewers and high overall ratings. References See also External links *[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1570154/ Girls Versus Suits] at the Internet Movie Database *[http://www.tv.com/show/how-i-met-your-mother/girls-vs.-suits/episode/1312232/summary.html Girls Versus Suits] at TV.com Category:Episodes Category:Season 5